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| Sunday, August 24, 2008 08:23 AM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
This covers new releases from the week of August 13th, plus the trade paperback I bought with the $20 I found the week before.
Back issues and old data
Scalped Volume 2: Casino Boogie
I started collecting this book in issues at #12, realized it was really good, and went back and picked up Volume 1 in trade paperback (which collects #1-5). But I've been trying to save my money and avoid the TPBs, so I didn't pick up Volume 2 until some free money came my way. Conveniently, it covers the rest of the story up to where I started collecting in issues (#6-11).
Reading a comic out of order like that is normally confusing, but with Scalped it's even more confusing, due to writer Jason Aaron's predilection for jumping back and forth through time. This volume is particularly jumpy in that way, showing you the beginning and end of a night, then going back to show you the middle, then showing you the same sequence of events from another perspective, and so on and so forth. In order to clear things up in my head, my plan is to go back to the beginning and reread the entire run of Scalped straight through. But as it is, I think I understand pretty well what's happened, and I certainly enjoyed this volume as much as I've enjoyed all the rest of the series.
Things open up with a couple of quick flashbacks that show us how Bad Horse left the Rez as a kid and how he returned recently as an undercover agent. Then it's back to the present where Chief Red Crow is giving Bad Horse an important new assignment: stop his mother's bodyguard, Diesel, from messing with the opening night of the casino. Diesel, it turns out, has only a tiny bit of Native American blood in him, and is otherwise Caucasian, a fact which upsets him to no end, and which he is thus very, very touchy about. An informant gives Bad Horse the whereabouts of Diesel, and then we skip over the long, brutal, and even comical process of his actual capture (which will be told in detail in a later part of the volume) and go straight to Bad Horse presenting Diesel to Red Crow. Next Bad Horse has a very interesting encounter with a fellow named Catcher, who has visions, and seems to know all of Diesel's secrets, not to mention his future. Next we jump ahead again to an interesting conversation Bad Horse has with his informant, and learn a bit more about just how much of an asshole Nitz is. And that's all just the first issue in the volume! The second issue tells the story of the casino's opening night all over again, but this time from Red Crow's point of view, giving you a close look into his rather dark and tortured soul. The third issue tells the story of the night again, this time from Diesel's point of view, giving us a better understanding of him, and at the end, revealing the shocking truth about his true loyalties. (Well, it would have been shocking if I hadn't already read later issues and known all about it.) The fourth issue tells the story again, this time from Catcher's point of view. This is one of the more interesting and mystical chapters of the series so far. Catcher is a sad and fascinating character, and his visions of people's spirit animals are intense and insightful. I particularly liked that the old woman's animal was a huge, strong bear. Chapter five of this volume covers the same day and night yet again, this time from the perspective of that old lady's grandson, a janitor at the casino who wants nothing more than to get the hell off the Rez. When his chance to do so falls in his lap, he realizes there are more reasons to stay than he thought. This chapter is sort of a diversion from the main plot of the series, but not really; the janitor's story parallels the stories of many of the other characters, and gives us a better idea of what they're all going through. It's also just a very powerful little story, very powerfully told. In the final chapter, we go back in time a bit and get the story of the last week from the perspective of Gina Bad Horse, with many flashbacks interspersed giving us an idea of where she came from and what she's going through. It all leads up to the murder that is the focus of the next story arc in the series.
Like I said, incredible stuff. The writing is brilliant, the story structure complex and intriguing. It's funny, devastating, exciting, thought-provoking. It's great, great comics.
Thumbs Up
New releases
Action Comics #868
This is the third part of the wonderful Brainiac storyline that's been ongoing in this book. It opens up with Cat doing her thing at the Daily Planet, and all the men sniffing after her — until, that is, the hotter, younger Supergirl shows up. She's afraid for her cousin and is trying to find him. And she's right to be afraid, because at that moment he's on a table in Brainiac's spaceship getting probes jammed into him. He jumps up off of that, fights a giant monkey, and then gets to meet the real Brainiac, who's a big hulking bastard. There's a quick cut back to Smallville for a rather goofily ominous scene, then it's back up to Brainiac's spaceship where we learn more of his plans and ultimate goal, and that it was maybe a bad idea for Superman to seek him out after all. This was another fun and exciting issue of Action Comics. It's great to see Johns back on track with this title. Here's hoping it lasts!
Thumbs Up
B.P.R.D.: The Warning #2
Obviously, this is a good comic. It's B.P.R.D. It opens with Kate pulling Abe away from his seemingly hopeless search for Daimio so he can come with them on their mission to track down Martin Gilfryd, the mysterious man (apparently a powerful magician) who's been showing up in Liz's head. Abe is reluctant to go, and despondent. Johann and Panya, who got off on the wrong foot, stay there. Johann, in his frustration with her, declines to look at some research somebody's been doing for him into Daimio's past, which I have a feeling was a bad idea. When they get to Gilfryd's hideout, they find him far better prepared to meet them than they expected. In fact, it's more like he's ambushing them. He takes off with one of their own, and leaves them stranded. Not so good for them, but another great issue for B.P.R.D. Mike Mignola and John Arcudi are putting together an intriguing plot with fascinating character development, and Guy Davis and Dave Stewart are doing their usual excellent job on art and colors. Good times.
Thumbs Up
Batman #679
Grant Morrison's insane Batman R.I.P. storyline continues with the crazed Zurr-en-arrh Batman trying to track down the enemies who attacked him. Meanwhile, he's having all kinds of fun visible and auditory hallucinations, which include not only the continuing one of Bat Might, but also talking gargoyles who show him a series of grids hanging in and around Gotham City which somehow describe how the city and it's people are all connected and growing together - and how Gotham City is "a machine designed to make Batman." In a scene reminiscent of Twelve Monkeys, Batman removes from his body a "tracking device" which could very well be yet another hallucination. Then Bat Might gives a bit of an explanation - Zurr-en-arrh was a keyword that Doctor Hurt developed to turn off Batman, during that isolation experiment, but apparently Batman had prepared for such an attack by creating the backup identity of the Zurr-en-arrh Batman. Which sort of makes sense, but sort of doesn't, and could just be another part of his hallucination. Meanwhile, Robin is running from the bad guys, and contacts the Club of Heroes to help counter the Club of Villains. Batman captures and tortures one of the villains for information (can the villain see Bat Might, too? Is the little guy not a hallucination after all?), but that may have been a setup. Gordon gets captured, as well, and Dr. Hurt keeps claiming he's really Thomas Wayne, and says everything is going to plan, a plan whose ultimate goal is to break Batman in Arkham Asylum at midnight. It also involves the Joker, to whom they've promised Robin.
This is all still pretty crazy and a little ridiculous, but it does feel like it's starting to come together a little more. Maybe it really will make sense in the end. Anyway, I actually rather enjoyed this issue.
Thumbs Up
Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1
I haven't been interested in many of the books coming out of Virgin Comics, but this one, which is based on a story from the ancient mythology of India, sounded really intriguing when I read about it in Comic News, so I decided to pick up the first issue. It starts with Alexander the Great and his army marching into the area the would one day be India. Alexander rides off alone for a bit and comes upon a mysterious old man who offers him both shelter, and a tale: the tale of the great warrior Kshatriya who lived over a thousand years ago, during a golden age of Gods, myth, legend, and magic. The story begins with an old king who has two sons - the older, ambitious Mayadeva, and the young, valiant Kshatriya. He must choose which will be his heir, and decides on Kshatriya, thus angering Mayadeva, who pledges himself to the evil Shaitan for the power to become king. Mayadeva attacks and overthrows the old king who, as he is dying, makes the last request that Kshatriya be spared. Mayadeva agrees not to kill his brother, but when Kshatriya raises a hand against him, he takes the hand from him, then has him thrown in the river to die. There he's found by the god Skanda, who saves his life and restores his arm by binding him with a tiger. He also offers to teach Kshatriya the art of war so he can take back what's his and defeat the evil Shaitan. Meanwhile, Mayadeva has learned that Kshatriya still lives and sends assassins after him. We return to the frame story briefly at the end of the comic, then jump nine years into Kshatriya's future to show the assassins finding him and a fight beginning, the end of which we will apparently see in the next issue.
This is definitely a neat story, but the dialogue (written by Arjun Gaind) is often pretty corny, especially in the frame story. That leap nine years into the future at the end of the comic is a little awkward and odd, too. And R. Manikandan's art is really pretty ugly. I might get the next issue just to see how the story turns out, but then again I might just go find a book on Indian mythology instead. So the comic has, at the very least, inspired me to do some research into some ancient legends that I know little about.
Thumbs Sideways
Mercy Sparx #0
I don't think I've ever bought a book put out by Devil's Due Publishing before, but when I look through each week's release list, I always check out the #0s and #1s from all the publishers, just in case some new series is starting that I might want to get in on at the ground floor, and this one caught my eye. The premise is that a hot demon girl gets hired by heaven to go to Earth to perform a task for God. Sounded kind of fun, and it only cost 99 cents, so I figured, what the heck? Because it's a 99-cent preview issue, it actually only contains 8 pages of story, backed up with an introduction to the title and some sketches. And the story itself is pretty underwhelming. It does little more than establish the premise I already described, as well as give you a quick look at Hell and at the character of Mercy Sparx. There's too much narration, the writing is quite poor, the characters are dull stereotypes, and most of the story concepts are boring cliches. I definitely won't be paying full price for the next issue of this.
Thumbs Down
X-Men Origins: Jean Grey #1
I've had pretty good luck with these X-Men Origins titles in the past, and I've been fascinated by the character of Jean Grey since I was a kid, so I decided to give this one-shot a chance. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a poorly paced (as in rushed), silly story accompanied by creepy, Alex Ross-style art. It opens up with Charles Xavier visiting Jean for the first time; he's been called in by her parents to help her, as she's been distant and in pain ever since her friend was killed in an accident years ago. It turns out that the trauma of the accident activated her mutant powers, and she experienced her friend's death telepathically. Also, now that her power has turned on, she can't turn it off, and whenever she finds herself among a large group of people, their thoughts crowd in on her and drive her crazy. After a very brief training montage (like, seriously, four panels), she progresses a great deal, and Xavier feels it'll be safe to bring her out in public again. Sadly, she's not quite ready yet, so there's more training and a mental block to be inserted (I wonder if that came originally from the comics, or if it's being added to the comics now that it was in the movie?), which takes some years, and involves a really ridiculous sequence set in Jean's mind where she says good-bye to her dead friend, who briefly and rather incongruously turns into a zombie. Then she leaves for the Xavier school, and all the sudden she's suited up as Marvel Girl and training in the Danger Room with the other X-Men. But something is still missing, so she skips out on the X-Men's next mission to have a little adventure of her own, which involves a quick and unlikely friendship, and an even more unlikely car accident, both of which give her a chance to use her powers and gain self-confidence.
I realize doing a character's entire origin story in just one comic book, especially a character with as protracted an origin story as Jean Grey, is a little tricky, but still, this thing is just really clumsily paced, suddenly moving at lightning speed, then slowing down to a crawl, then jumping ahead years again. And how can you do an origin story for Jean Grey and totally skip over the part where she actually becomes an X-Man, meets Cyclops, and so forth? There are some cool ideas in here, but Sean McKeever's dialogue often leaves much to be desired. I see what they were trying to do with the mental zombie grabbing Jean in that one sequence, but the way it's done really just doesn't work. The awkward scene at the end where she meets a girl and they become pals in about two panels doesn't work very well, either. And how dumb is this ambulance driver that he not only can't stop in time at a road block, but also fails so disastrously to do so that he flips the car over and nearly kills like 20 people? It seems like they could have come up with a better explanation for a car accident than that. Part of what makes the story so corny and poorly told is the art, which is done in that pseudo-realistic, painterly style, where the artist makes use of live models. Some people really enjoy this style, which is why Alex Ross is so popular and critically acclaimed, but I've come to really dislike it, and although there are some rather lovely images in here, I mostly find the art distracting and creepy in that uncanny valley kind of way.
All of which is to say, I did not care for this comic. Next up in the Origins series is Beast, but he's never been my favorite X-Man (especially in his pre-furry days), so there's a good chance I won't be picking that one up, especially if it's not written by an author I know and like.
Thumbs Down
Welcome to Hoxford #1
Like I said earlier, I'm always on the lookout for new series that sound interesting, and this is another one of those. It's created, written, and drawn all by the same guy: Ben Templesmith. Templesmith is rather well thought of by critics and such, but I'm mostly unfamiliar with his work. This seemed like a good way to get more familiar. It's a series about a really messed up guy named Raymond Delgado, whose terrible life has turned him into a man-eating killer. Him and some other particularly nasty insane types are shipped off to a new facility for their kind called Hoxford. The comic is set in the near future when some new laws have been passed such that the people in charge at Hoxford have almost limitless power to control who gets to see their patients. This means that Ray's doctor can't get in to see him. Also, it becomes apparent almost immediately that Hoxford itself is not at all what it seems, and that the people in charge may not even be people.
The book opens with a quick montage that pretty much summarizes Ray's life up to this point. It's been shitty, to put it lightly. In fact, it's been almost ridiculously terrible. And that he can be summarized by a montage that only lasts a page or two doesn't say much good about him as a character. The character of his doctor could also use fleshing out, but maybe that will happen in future issues. Sadly, I doubt I'll be reading any of those. This comic really didn't do much for me. It seems to be gruesome and horrible for the sheer sake of being gruesome and horrible. And the problem with putting crazy people-eating weirdos in charge of an insane asylum full of crazy people-eating weirdos is that you end up not caring what happens to any of them.
Thumbs Down
Secret Invasion #5
The fifth episode in Bendis' epic, universe-changing miniseries opens at Thunderbolts Mountain with Osborn rather coolly and impressively talking down "Captain Marvel." It also sounds like he's going to bring the Thunderbolts into the fray. Meanwhile, Fury, his Commandos, and the Young Avengers reconvene at Fury's secret HQ, and then get to hear a message from the Skrulls to Earth, delivered in a rather unconventional and creepy way: on TV, from the lips of various heroes, villains, and well known celebrities. I'm really liking the whole "He loves you" thing that they keep doing. It's an interesting bit of socio-religious slang, and it's unsettling that such a nice, welcoming phrase is being used by such a terrible enemy, even as they attack and torture and enslave. Meanwhile, Abigail Brand pulls of a seriously bad-ass bit of killing and rescuing. Then Maria Hill pulls off an equally bad-ass bit of killing. I totally love her self-destruct code, too. "Socrates, bologna sandwich, Soupy Sales, Cameron Crowe" is much better than the "zero zero zero" code they used in that one Star Trek movie. Reed says something intriguing about the Skrulls using his brain to start this war, and that he's going to use his brain to end it. Hmmm... Anyway, then there's more bad-assery from Captain Marvel, and Reed shows up in the Savage Land and fires the "reveal the Skrulls" gun he somehow cooked up, which unsurprisingly leads to some intense and unsettling revelations. Then Clint vows a terrible, bloodthirsty vow. And then your brain explodes, because this comic is so awesome. Yes, I'm very pleased with where Secret Invasion is going. It's action-packed, exciting, and full of surprises. Very good stuff.
Thumbs Up
Final Crisis: Revelations #1
I hear that Final Crisis got better and maybe I really should have stuck with it, but instead of reading the main series, I'm just trying out the various ancillary series. This one is written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Philip Tan, with inks by Jonathan Glapion and Jeff de los Santos, and color by Ian Hannin. It takes a look at what the Spectre and the Question are up to at the moment. The Spectre hates his job and is pissed at God, and the Question is trying to stop the weird fanatics who wanted her to be their leader. The Question storyline comes out of that whole Crime Bible series that I thought was so awful, but whatever. The really interesting stuff in this issue is going on with the Spectre. He takes some serious vengeance on some of the folks who were involved with the murder of the Martian Manhunter. There are some pretty big spoilers ahead, but I find it really interesting that what the Spectre stuffs Effigy into is clearly a lantern, like the Green Lanterns have. Except it's red. Does this have something to do with the Red Lanterns, or is it just Spectre's usual ironic way of punishing somebody (although in this case it's only vaguely ironic, as Effigy was only the enemy of the Green Lanterns)? Hmm... Anyway, the Spectre shows up to take care of Libra but interestingly enough finds his power has no effect on the guy (although it is pretty effective against all the other people in the room - ouch!). But how can that be? Meanwhile, as the Question is trying to stop her enemies from getting away with some kind of magic spear they dug up from the bottom of the ocean, the Spectre shows up to take vengeance on her! It's a particularly interesting turn of events given the fact that the Spectre was once Crispus Allen, the Question was once Renee Montoya, and Allen and Montoya were once partners.
This series sounded intriguing, but I'm still surprised that I'm liking it as much as I do, seeing as how the story is tied in to two other series that I don't like, and it centers on a couple of characters I normally don't care for. Maybe it'll get lame in future issues, but right now I'm hooked. It probably helped that the Spectre melts one of my least favorite super villains in the first couple pages - just as he was about to do something seriously nasty with some superheroines. Actually, I hope those were supposed to be random young women that he dressed up to look like the real superheroines, because I find it hard to believe a loser like him could subdue and enslave three superheroines at the same time. But anyway. Good book.
Thumbs Up
Astonishing X-Men #26
OK, this is getting better. I was really looking forward to Warren Ellis' run on this book, and was pretty disappointed when the first issue of it wasn't fantastic, but this second issue is good stuff. I like the interplay between Armor and Wolverine, and sequence with the Fastball Special redux. And just in general the dialogue is clever and funny. Storywise, they track down the killer from the first issue, but don't get much information out of him due to his rudely blowing up his own head. He does mention some group or other called the Annex, though, and how "one of us will get through" and "you're all dead already." Intriguing! There's also a bit where Storm and Cyclops have an interesting argument about when it's okay to kill somebody, or whether it ever is at all. I'm still not hot on Simone Bianchi's strange art, but I'm looking forward to next issue and more of Ellis' always-wonderful writing.
Thumbs Up
Buckaroo Banzai: The Prequel #1
This is just what it sounds like: a comic book prequel to the film Buckaroo Banzai. It's published by Moonstone, whom I don't believe I've ever bought anything by before. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I bought it anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's written by the same guy who wrote the movie, so I guess I shouldn't be too shocked that it captures the film's unique style and flavor. I think I'll skip the plot summary on this one (as it would be rather lengthy) and just tell you that it's extremely silly, clever, and fun, and that I intend to pick up the next issue.
Thumbs Up
Secret Invasion: X-Men #1
Yay, another new Secret Invasion tie-in miniseries! We open with the Skrulls attacking San Francisco, not expecting much resistance, only to be unpleasantly surprised by the appearance of the X-Men, who fly in out of nowhere and start kicking ass and taking names. Unfortunately, it won't be as easy as all that; the Skrulls are able to resist telepaths, and they call in some Super Skrulls to fight back. Also, Nightcrawler picks up a mysterious glowy ball that's dropped by the Skrull priest and it turns into a situation very like the one in The Lord of the Rings when Pippin picked up that palantír. Anyway, the point is, exciting and good!
Thumbs Up
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2
Hooray for the Runaways! And, to a lesser extent, the Young Avengers. Xavin continues his plan to save Dorrek, but Commander Chrell, who has a history with both of them, has a squad of Super Skrulls ready, and a plan to kill both princes which apparently involves the Runaways, who were arguing about whether to leave or not, and now likely don't have a choice. It's an interesting story, with a lot of fun characters who have interesting history with each other. Plus, the art is cute. Good times!
Thumbs Up
Hellboy: The Crooked Man #2
Mignola on Hellboy = awesome, and that's a fact written in stone, so there's little that needs to be said about this issue. It's creepy and cool, with some very neat magic bits and some very neat monsters (drawn with great effectiveness by Richard Corben, and colored by Dave Stewart with his usual skill). It also has wonderful atmosphere, some moving moments, and even some comedy (like when Hellboy says, "I kinda wish I'd taken a shot at her back when she was sitting on that horse. Oh. Sorry. I mean—your dad"). There's also a fun, one-page, illustrated instruction manual for making your own witchball, apparently inspired by similar stuff in '70s horror comics. Neat!
Thumbs Up
Green Lantern Corps #27
I was so disgusted with the previous story arc in this title that I actually skipped the last issue or two of it, but now that a new storyline is starting, I thought I'd jump back in and see if it'll be any better. I've definitely liked the title in the past, and I definitely would like to see what happens to the Lanterns. Plus, I wanted to see how it went with the opening of Rayner and Gardner's restaurant on Oa. That's a great subplot idea.
As it turns out, it seems to go rather well. We also get to see the interesting ceremony that goes on when a Green Lantern dies, and learn that something is going wrong with the dead, which is no doubt a foreshadowing of the Black Lanterns storyline that's coming. Very cool. At the end of the issue, this book's strange obsession with raining gore down on people rears its ugly head again, as a bunch of eyes drops down on the Green Lantern trainees, and it turns out somebody's killing the families of Green Lanterns - a tactic I'm surprised no one has taken before in the past. So... maybe they have and I just don't know about it. Anyway, I hope I'm not supposed to recognize the killer, because he sure doesn't look familiar. Regardless, I'm definitely interested in this title again, and plan to grab the next issue.
Thumbs Up
The Goon #27
This issue of Eric Powell's crazed monster-fighting title actually contains only one very short story by Powell himself, which involves a weird look into the hallucinations of a legless zombie woman, and some hilarious dialogue between the Goon and Franky as they fight off some little mutant zombie things. Next up is a comical story called "The Revenge of the Skunk Ape," written and drawn by Kyle Hotz with colors by Dave Stewart. It is indeed a sequel to the original Skunk Ape story. Franky and the Goon think they've tracked down their enemy, the Skunk Ape, so they do some seriously horrible things to it, without ever realizing that perhaps they were mistaken after all. The last story is a wonderful, wordless tale about Dr. Alloy and the nice things he does for the other inmates in prison. Next issue, Powell will apparently be back to writing the whole book all the way through, and the current story arc will pick up again, but this was a lovely little interlude.
Thumbs Up
Captain Britain and MI13 #4
In the final issue of this title's tie-in with Secret Invasion, the good guys suffer one or two rather serious losses, but Cap engages in some gentlemanly butt-kicking and eventually Britannia prevails. Afterwards, Cap and Wisdom draw up plans for a new team to fight off evil. And unfortunately it looks like Faiza is going to be an essential part of that team. Which is disappointing to me because I really didn't care for her character - in particular the way she talks, but also the lame way she acquired her superpowers. Still, I have to admit the way she joins the team at the end is pretty clever and fun. We'll see what happens; this series so far has been mostly awesome, so I'm definitely sticking with it for now.
Thumbs Up |
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